Fire hits Makati

Some P1 million worth of goods went up in smoke after a fire broke out at the second floor of a general merchandise store in Makati City yesterday morning.

Fire Officer 1 Ervic Gavieres, arson investigator said fire hit JMJ Marketing store located on Filmore street, Bgy. Palanan, Makati City after a loud explosion was heard. The store, owned by a certain Willy Dy, is located near the Cash N Carry supermarket.

A security guard called up the Makati City Fire Station at around 12:25 a.m., reporting an explosion at the second floor of the store. The station immediately raised the second alarm so more firetrucks could respond and help in controlling the blaze.

Gavieres said the fire started in a stockroom filled with imported products. The quick arrival of 13 firetrucks from the Makati City Fire Station and two volunteer firetrucks prevented the fire from spreading to the ground floor. They were able to put out the fire by 2 a.m.

No one was reported injured since the store was already closed by 8 p.m. Arson investigators are still determining the cause of the fire.

In Manila, arson investigators are trying to establish the origin of the three-hour fire that gutted some P2 million worth of property at a squatters area in Sampaloc last Saturday.

Fire Officer 1 Guillermo Firmalino said fire investigators have yet to determine the cause of the fire that started at around 3.48 p.m. at 1273 Lavanderos and Lardizabal streets in Sampaloc, Manila.

Firmalino could not yet identify the occupants of the house where the blaze broke out.

He said 59-year-old Leonora Serrano was injured after burning debris fell on her while she was trying to salvage some of her belongings during the blaze.

Firefighters had difficulty containing the fire which lasted until 6:54 p.m.

‘Be safety conscious’

Alarmed by the increasing number of fires especially in congested and depressed areas, Bureau of Fire Protection chief Francisco Senot urged the public to be more fire safety conscious to prevent accidental fires and unnecessary loss to life and property.

Senot made the appeal on the heels of the recent fire in three barangays in Pasay City where 1,500 families were rendered homeless. The fire, which reached the general alarm, also damaged the nearby BLTB bus terminal and razed several vehicles at the auto repair shop inside the compound.

While the cause of the Pasay City fire was due to a couple’s quarrel, majority of fires nationwide are due to carelessness or indifference, Senot said, citing statistics from the monthly fire incidence report nationwide.

The BFP chief said that with the advent of the Christmas season, the public should take extra precautions to prevent fire. Historically, the Christmas season registers one of the highest number of fire incidence in the country.

Senot also reminded owners and operators of shopping malls, department stores, moviehouses, restaurants and leisure and entertainment complexes with big volume of customers to start reviewing their fire safety and emergency measures in view of the anticipated bigger influx of customers.

Senior Superintendent Danilo Cabrera, BFP regional director for the NCR, said the bureau would coordinate with shopping malls and other places frequented by big volume of shoppers to ensure that fire safety measures are in place before the holiday season.

Cabrera said in light of the Pasay City fire he would press for the creation of fire brigades in every barangay as mandated by law. – Evelyn Macairan, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Non Alquitran